Finding and hiring top engineering talent isn’t easy. These professionals are in high demand, and they’re not a dime a dozen – engineers are highly specialized, and their services don’t always come cheap. In recent years, the hiring market has gotten even tighter as issues like inflation, an aging workforce resulting in record retirements, and the pandemic have made the competition for talent greater and greater. 

Your organization will want to hold onto the great engineering talent you have once you get it. Attracting and hiring all-star engineers is only half the battle – you need to retain those people if you want your organization to be truly successful in the long term, especially in today’s tough economy.  

This is where engineering staffing agencies come in. Sometimes, employers make the mistake of thinking that a staffing firm is only there to serve as a talent search service, filling your organization’s open roles with the first person that comes along. This isn’t true. Although engineering recruiting agencies perform the talent search on your behalf, it goes far beyond simply finding personnel. One of the best ways to retain the great talent you find is by utilizing the services of an engineering recruiting firm. 

Keep reading to learn more about how a recruiting firm specializing in engineering talent can help you retain the best people for your business.  

Why Should Engineering Companies Focus on Retaining Employees?  

Before we discover how engineering recruiting firms help your organization retain employees, let’s cover why this is so important. Retention is key for both business metrics and your company culture. When you have a high retention rate, there are many benefits: 

• Cost savings – When you have a high turnover rate and employees keep leaving, you need to take on the expense of replacing them. By retaining great people, you’re saving on the cost of recruiting, onboarding, training, and more. 
• Time savings – Creating job descriptions, sifting through resumes, setting up interviews, narrowing down the candidate pool… finding and hiring a brand-new employee can take a significant amount of time. When you retain top engineers, your core team can focus on growing your business rather than the details of recruiting and hiring.  

• Better office morale – When your company is a revolving door of people constantly leaving, it creates a drain on company morale. Employees see their peers leaving, and they may start to wonder if they should, too. Avoid this domino effect by keeping great people around from the outset. 
• Better reputation – Businesses that keep great people around tend to have a better reputation in the community than those who don’t. Word will quickly get out if your company is constantly losing people.  
• Better performance – When you keep people around and they’re able to continue growing and learning in their roles, they get to know their job inside and out. This creates better job performance as the years go on. 

Learn Effective Ways to Retain Talent with the Help of an Engineering Recruiting Firm 

Clearly, employee retention is important. The engineering profession is no exception. What does an engineering staffing firm have to say about how to retain top engineers? 

Recruiters Recommend Providing Employees with Upskilling and Career Growth Opportunities 

The surveys and studies prove it again and again: employees who are given the possibility of advancement tend to stay with that company. When employees have upskilling and training opportunities, they’re willing to invest their time and energy into advancing rather than simply finding a new job with a different employer.  

Provide your engineering talent with on-the-job training, mentoring, and upskilling. Consider giving them a stipend for continuing education. Perks like these not only attract the best people to your organization but they also make them want to stick around. If an engineer feels they’re stuck in a dead-end job, it won’t be long before they’re looking for greener pastures. 

Provide the Employees with Competitive Benefits and Pay  

In engineering – or any field, for that matter – top candidates aren’t likely to stick around very long if they’re not compensated well. Engineers’ talents are in high demand, and they expect to be compensated fairly for the work that they do. Make sure you stay current with the going market rate for engineers of different specialties, and offer wages commensurate with those rates. Otherwise, top engineering talent will flock to your competitors.  

Remember: money isn’t everything. Although competitive pay is extremely important, a robust and comprehensive benefits package is also key to attracting and retaining the best people. Today’s engineering candidates are looking for the full package of health benefits, retirement, wellness benefits, and perks such as PTO, flexible hours, remote work, technology reimbursement, and more. Offer the best pay and benefits you can in order to keep your best people with your company. 

Recognize and Reward Employees to Boost Morale  

If you were never recognized at your job, how would it make you feel? When engineers are never rewarded or recognized, it can start to drain them of their motivation – and who can blame them? Engineers who do well in their jobs want to be recognized and known that their hard work is appreciated. They also want feedback on their performance so that they continue to improve in their field. 

It’s your choice how you’d like to recognize and reward engineering talent. A simple “thank you,” or shout-out at the next company meeting goes a long way. You can also formally recognize your engineers with a points program, a small gift card, or a cash bonus. However you do it, it’s an important step for boosting morale and retaining the best people in your organization. 

Leverage the Support of an Engineering Recruitment Agency to Hire the Right Fit 

The benefits of employee retention are clear. But how can an engineering recruitment agency help you in your efforts to keep the best engineering talent around? First and foremost, skilled engineering recruiters help you hire the right person the first time – because the candidate is the perfect fit for your organization, it’s likely they’ll remain with your company for longer.  

Here’s what sets an engineering staffing agency apart when it comes to helping you find – and retain – the best engineers: 

• Thorough vetting. Engineering staffing firms put their candidates through a strict vetting and qualification process, which could include skills testing and personality assessments in addition to things like background checks and reference checks. This helps to ensure that a candidate is truly the right fit for your business, not only in skills and experience but in personality and cultural fit. 
• Attractive job descriptions. A staffing firm can help you create better job descriptions that attract the best engineering talent to your business. They’ll help make it clear to candidates what you’re offering and why they should choose your company. 
• Deep talent networks. Engineering staffing companies have spent years building up large networks of talented people. When it comes time to hire for your open engineering roles, they can leverage that network to find candidates who fit the bill. And because recruiting firms can access passive candidates – people who are already employed but might be open to a new job if the right opportunity came along – you have an even greater chance of making an excellent hire. 

• Industry knowledge. Sometimes, internal HR teams don’t know the full scope of an engineer’s job duties, especially in regard to complex engineering specialties. Seasoned engineering recruiters, on the other hand, know these industries inside and out. Partnering with an engineering recruitment firm means you’re getting industry experts hiring on your behalf. This means the candidates you bring on are an ideal match for the job requirements, making it much more likely that the candidate will stick around long-term. 

Learn How Partnering with an Engineering Staffing Agency Can Help You Find and Retain Top Performing Talent 

Do you need to find and retain high-performing engineering talent? PEAK Technical is the engineering staffing agency to turn to when it matters most. Our engineering staffing services are designed with your company in mind. We offer temporary staff augmentation, temp-to-hire staffing, permanent placement, and employer of record (EOR) services to meet your unique hiring challenges. 

PEAK Technical has been supplying reliable, highly skilled personnel to industry-leading companies since 1968. When it’s time to find an engineer to add to your roster, submit your talent request. Our engineering recruiters are standing by to assist in your talent search.